Leeser Architecture,an internationally recognized design firm, has won a invitedcompetition for a five-star luxury hotel in the Zayed Bay in Abu Dhabi,UAE. Called the Helix Hotel for itsstaggered floor plates, it rests in the bay, partially floating in thewater and adjacent to the serpentineSheik Zayed Bridge currently under construction by designer Zaha Hadid.With the Helix, LeeserArchitecture has devised a new way to consider hotel culture in theEmirates, highlighting elementsthat are usually unseen, and playfully enlivening those parts thattraditionally remain static and mundane.
The commission was the result of an invited competition held by Al Qudra Real Estate in partnershipwith QP International, both local Abu Dhabi holdings groups with projects featured across the UAE.Zayed Bay will be a comprehensive development built along a new road, and the site will includeoffice buildings as well as condominiums and retail along the water. The Helix is the centerpiece of
this new development.
With 208 guest rooms and suites arranged around a helical floor, the hotel immediately dispenseswith the idea that visitors must engage in the stale paradigms of rigid hallways and atria that char-acterize a typical hotel stay. The floor constantly shifts in width and pitch as it rises to the top floor,keeping public spaces always in flux. No two rooms positioned across from each other have exactviews to the other side, already pulling the visitor out of the pedestrian and into the hotel’s uniquelyurban world.
As the helix winds upward, programmatic elements change from lounges and res-taurants on the bay, to meeting rooms and conference facilities, to lounges and cafes, to the luxuryindoor-outdoor health spa on the fifth floor, to, finally, the upper pool deck on the roof. The run-ning track on the fifth floor represents the only moment when the ramping ceases and a flat surfaceprevails – a sleight of hand on the architect’s part, and an unexpected luxury that fit vacationers canenjoy in the cooler months.
Conceptually, the Helix Hotel participates in a critical dialogue between opulence and urbanness,between the variety of services offered by a small city and the demands of a five-star hotel guest.The floor suggests the curves a winding street would take through a bustling town, and many pro-grammatic elements are open to views from across the central void. Though the void seems to offerunmitigated visibility, there are enclaves for private meetings and guest privacy. It is designed so thatone activity feeds into the next rather than affecting sharp separations between each activity. In thisway it develops a feeling of being free to whimsically experience all aspects of the hotel without havingto decide on an agenda in advance.
On the luxury side of vacation culture, there are playful elements that make the hotel a designerdestination in an iconic setting. From the outset, it is as much a showplace for the abundance ofopulent life as it is a fully incorporated urban experience. For example, the building has a functionalreverse fountain, which drops water from the ceiling down through the void to the lower lobby. At theentry, valets drive clients’ cars into the car park, which, rather than being predictably abovegroundor underneath the hotel, is situated instead under the bay. Cars are literally driven into the water. Asguests make their way up to their suites, remarkable views out onto the Zayed Bay become even moredramatic on the upper floors. At the top of the Helix, the rooftop pool deck features a full sized swim-ming pool with a glass bottom, with the water and swimmers visible from eight floors below at groundlevel. In the restaurant below the lobby, the bay’s waves are so near to the floor plate that they lap uponto the edge of the restaurant inside of the glass curtain wall. The wall retracts, revealing a sweep-ing breeze.
While focusing on unique design, Leeser Architecture is also committed to sound sustainability prac-tices and worked with consultant Atelier Ten to determine the best possible conditions and materialsfor heat and energy conservation. The indoor waterfall allows for the accumulation of heat inside thehotel to be minimal by filtering cool water back up into the system as it falls through the void. In thesub-lobby, a dynamic glass wall is built from the base of the second floor down into the water. Thewall acts as a curtain would, opening when the weather is cool enough and closing when it is too hotfor exposure to the desert air. Portions of the outside surface are clad in panels made of a new mate-rial called GROW, which has both photovoltaic and wind harnessing capabilities.
from bustler
